Pesadillas

Season One:

As someone who watched at least some of the original Goosebumps series in my youth, though have admittedly forgotten most of the storylines, I was surprisingly hooked from the first episode's cold open. Where the season progresses thereafter manages to deliver genuinely intriguing reveals, one after another. This is most of all thanks to the great source material, R. L. Stine's various cursed objects setting the stage for a lot of scary fun. Unfortunately, without going into too deep of detail, the writers simply did not know how or where to end the season. The eighth episode serves as a natural send-off to these characters, albeit feeling rushed, but the season persists with an additional two episodes that are quite forced and just wholly unnecessary.

That said, the characters here, particularly our central cast of teens, are fairly well-written and so likable enough, even if their personal drama is not all that interesting. I would be remiss, however, not to highlight Justin Long's pure excellence in his role as Mr. Bratt, as well as Chris Greere's eerie voice performance of Slappy (who yes, of course, is in this series).

On that note, I appreciated Slappy's perfectly evil look and the excellent puppeteering behind him, matching his devilish personality. While the visual effects are not quite as flawless, I found them more than up to par for what this series is going for.

Despite its faults, I would recommend this season. Goosebumps fans in particular should enjoy what it offers.

Season Two:

While I definitely have issue with certain elements of this second chapter of Goosebumps anthology, I do enjoy a great deal of what the season offers. Undeniably nailing the scary fun that Goosebumps is and should be, the overall storyline here delivers a lot of thrilling moments and reveals, particularly in its finale that fortunately sticks the landing. On that note, I do narrowly prefer this season, even though the first season's story was a fair amount more impactful, at least until its lackluster ending. Anyways, adding to the excitement of this season are similarly freaky visuals, monsters and body horror alike.

Despite a fairly well-written overarching plot, the characters here in of themselves are quite lackluster, and so where this version of Goosebumps goes wrong. The central cast, mostly comprised of teenagers, are simply written without real care, failing to provide an interesting or emotionally-inclined vehicle to journey through the scares with. From their unconvincing relationships to their sometimes unlikable personalities, it's difficult to invest in the fate of any of these characters. That is, at least, beyond David Schwimmer's role, which admittedly does a lot of the leg work to maintain the story's intriguing elements, including the still largely overlooked emotional aspect to the plot.

Most attempts at humor are also ineffective, and combined with a soundtrack consisting of very current, very out-of-place hits, there's certainly an ill-advised focus on capturing the zeitgeist.

Still, thanks to a very intriguing story that largely encapsulates the Goosebumps spirit, I would recommend this season to fans of the franchise.

Fans of the original book series should know this show is nothing like that- it's darker and the protagonists are teenagers instead of younger kids. Zero nostalgia factor, so if that's what you were hoping for, look elsewhere.

That said, the episodes in the middle of the first season were fairly okay and overall the series had potential.

The writing is why this isn't getting a higher rating from me. The motivations behind the characters' actions- particularly those of the villains- are nonsensical to the point of frustration. The last two episodes of the first season were disappointing and fell flat in their attempt to create lore and explain the origin of the evil that had been haunting the characters.

I don't have an issue with the showmakers changing the tone of the OG series to appeal to an older, Gen Z audience but there are too many plotholes- too much about the choices characters make and about the world that just doesn't make sense within the context of the series, and that's never really explained to the point of satisfaction.

I am 38 years old, the original Goosebumps books and TV show were in my prime. I enjoyed them and Fear Street as I got older. I didn't mind the movies that came out a few years ago but nothing has been "Goosebumps" to me. This attempt is the same. Is it a halfway decent show that I can watch with my son to pass some time over the weekend. They definitely called it "Goosebumps" to get more viewers but it is not really Goosebumps. They took some inspiration from some of the books and wrapped it into 1 series. I do have to say that as a gay man, I am finding the "check boxes" to get a little old. It is nice to see characters who resemble everyone, the gay kid with a straight best friend combo was cool BUT the stereotypes are getting a bit old. Not every gay kid is androgenous or flamboyant. It would be nice to see these characters but with a little less of the stereotypes. Aside from that, I've definitely seen worse things on TV.

Before you read this review I'm only two episodes into this series. However, right away a decision they made has kind of ruined the entire thing for me. It is not single one off stories, they are combining a bunch of books into a continuous arc about characters spanning one season.

A season long arc doesn't really work for Goosebumps. They might want it to because it makes it easier to create sequel episodes if they can keep bringing the same characters back, but it doesn't work with this. Each book was an entirely different vibe, some had more elements of comedy, some had elements of family, all had a horror twist thrown into the mix.

Making this a season long arc doesn't seem like it will work to me. This is just a forewarning to anyone looking to check out this series. I have no idea if they're able to pull it off well, but it seems destined to be at best mediocre to me.

...but I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did. The first two episodes are not the best I didn't really know why. The acting is overdone sometimes and the jokes don't land but somewhere in the 3rd or 4th episode this switches. The humor is actually landing and we get modern humor with some pop culture references but also some throwbacks to the x-files and of course MANY of the old goosebumps episodes/books.

Each episode has it's own "monster" but they are all connected through the friendgroup. At first I thought I would prefer stand alone episodes and different actors but I actually prefer it this way.

The CGI looks great even though the scenes sometimes give CW energy. Overall the Storytelling overways everything and it feels so good to be back in the goosebumps world.

The soundtrack is AMAZING too, straight up bangers in every outro.

If you are a Boomer at heart even though you grew up with goosebumps: you probably already wrote a review about how much this is a woke cashgrab that's unoriginal, but somehow your comment is. This is not for you.

This is for the people that learned the core values of shows like goosebumps and can still have fun and actually like diversity and that everyone gets a seat at the table. Don't take this show too serious because it really doesn't take itself that serious either and then you will have a great time!

Update after completing the show: No spoilers; It's still good, I still miss the old intro, it diverts expectation which I like but the PACING.. the show really needs to work on that. Some episode are just filler (episode 5? And 9).. absolutely boring. 90% talking 10% plot. We need a better balance between slow moody teen drama and action fantasy novel. Because right now the balance is off. Otherwise pretty good like I said. I'm going to lower my score from an 8 to a 7. It didn't wow me in the end but it was nice. Soundtrack is also really good.